Hull glows in Glasgow, smashes own record

Middle-distance star Jessica Hull has bettered her own Australian 3000m record to finish in a valiant fourth place at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow this morning, sewing up her best individual result at a major championships.
 
Inspired by fellow Aussie and New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship athlete, high jumper Nicola Olyslagers’ world title on Day 1 of competition, Hull (NSW, coached by Simon Hull) lowered her own national record she set exactly one month ago, with a time of 8:24.39 in the Women’s 3000m Final – falling less than two seconds outside of the medals.

“That race was exactly what I wanted. Two weeks ago when we saw that (reigning champion) Gudaf (Tsegay) was on the list, I was so excited because I knew I’d have to pull everything I had been working on in training together. I pulled myself right on her for 2700m, and I was doing it,” Hull said.

“Just like last year how I was a 3:57 woman in the 1500m, I can say now that I’m a true 8:24 woman in the 3000m. It’s a really good place to be and a great springboard for the 1500m, so I think we’re going to see a really big jump there now when I go back to it.”

Stating her intentions early, Hull left no stone unturned when asserting herself at the business end of the field to confirm her status amongst the world’s best middle-distance women, covering the moves of leader Gudaf Tsegay (Ethiopia) as the pack of four including eventual winner Elle St Pierre (USA) and Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya) established themselves as the major players. 

“I knew that if I ran my race to plan, I would be able to break that record, so I didn’t really look at the record and clock it but I knew I ran fast today,” Hull said.

Four does not go into three and it was the Australian who lost contact with two laps remaining, with Hull fighting on to improve yet another national record, setting herself up for a year of success as she strides towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games hungrier than ever.

“I have a little bit more work to do, but this shows that we’re definitely really strong and we’ll put it all together well for August.”

Earlier in the day, Catriona Bisset (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) boxed on for fifth place in the Women’s 800m Semi-Finals in a time of 2:00.13, making significant inroads in the closing stages but ultimately falling short of her second World Indoor Championships finals berth. 
 
The 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships continues tonight at 9:25pm AEDT as Michelle Jenneke (NSW, Bronwyn Thomson) kicks off proceedings in the 60m Hurdles, while World Championships bronze medallist Kurtis Marschall (WA, Paul Burgess) goes for back-to-back major medals on Monday morning from 6:00am AEDT.
 
Australian viewers can tune in live and free via SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand, with full replays available at the conclusion of each session.

Story and photograph courtesy of Athletics Australia